On Nudity, Makeup And Looks

Preamble: If after reading this you feel like I’m talking about you then I certainly am.

Now as man of certain intellectual and moral standards I will say that our moral fabric is severely tattered. The society is increasingly becoming debased. Things that were reprehensible in the days past are now almost perfectly unobjectionable: Things like premarital sex, abortion… People these days don’t care very about chastity, virginity, honesty, temperance, decency, respect for senior citizens. They are becoming bold in sin.

But I will talk about Decency.

Now dressing is not exactly an easy subject to broach because when you talk about dressing you are talking about people. And when you are talking about people – and how inappropriately they dress – they become defensive, dismissive – even grouchy.
But nonetheless skimp dressing is one of those things I will always talk about, write about and determinedly scoff at. I recently penned an article on Magazine Reel that spanned morality and dressing. You can click here to have a peek into the earlier post. And in this write-up I’m doing pretty much the same.

I will begin by dispensing with the idea that dressing is a woman issue. Decency is not a woman problem (pretty much as it is). Nor is it a man problem. It’s rather a moral issue and I will want it to be tackled that way. So judge this write up in the same light.

Image is superficial

Firstly we simply can’t deny that image is powerful and that image is important. How you look can make people like you, hate you, admire you, employ you or judge you. And so we should much care about our looks.

But image is also superficial. It’s external. It’s shallow. It’s just on the surface. Beauty fades away. Looks are only secondary. That’s why to be smart is always better than to be good looking. #Deep!

I’m no stranger to a class of young people who have deluded themselves and who are absorbed in just way they look. And they are not just women because there are men who are dandies. These young people are damaged vains like Narcissus. ‘Narcissus got a bad rap. Sure, the guy was self-absorbed—what with all that staring at his own reflection in a stream. But once he fell in and drowned.’* They are unduly obsessed -‘obsessed’ take note of verbiage – with looks and make-up: pedicure, manicure, hairdos, eye shadows, lip gloss, plastic surgery, makeup tutorials, matching colours, body shapers…
They nitpick and prink before the mirror for ridiculously several minutes. All they post on social media is their pictures – snapshots of the face, new hair, bum – funky though. Looks for them is the upfront thing and that’s certainly a problem they need to come to grips with.

Nudity is selling out.

We all can relate to the fact that nude people are deployed in the advertisement of commodities: from soaps to magazines to electronics. Nudity is used to promote certain brands and videos and ideas. Some models and socialites are
-without mincing words- cashing in on nudity just as sex workers are.

So nudity is a device to sell out. Huh!

And this is not just happening with socialites and sex workers. It has taken its place in the real public space and even close, among friends and classmates. But they are not nude out rightly. They are nude understandably. They are nude with some clothes on: in tight pants, in leggings, skimp cleavaged dresses which do much to expose rather than hide. So they are selling something too. Not brands. Not ideas. But themselves.

NB: The thing about ‘nude’ people is not just that they are ‘stripped’ of clothes. They are stripped also of respect, of demeanour of class.

Discouraging make up

It is a buzzword. Make-up is in the fullest sense of the word to make up, to conjure up, to concoct an image.
So what happens when you apply make-up is that you make an image that looks like you but which is not the real you. Make-up is a construction. It’s artificial beauty. That’s what the thing is.

“No matter your wreckage.
There will be someone to find you beautiful,
despite the cruddy metal. Your ruin is not to be hidden
behind paint and canvas. Let them see the cracks.
Someone will come to sing into these empty spaces.
Sarah Kay,

4 COMMENTS

…”They nitpick and prink before the mirror
for ridiculously several minutes. All
they post on social media is their
pictures – snapshots of the face, new
hair, bum – funky though. Looks for
them is the upfront thing and that’s
certainly a problem they need to come
to grips with”